The bells have been ringing all day long and I can barely freaking breathe.

The castle is beautiful. It’s covered in garlands, wreaths, balloons, streamers, and all sorts of decorations I’ve never seen before. There are hundreds of people lined up outside of the gates, cheering and calling our names, eager to get a glimpse of the young Prince and his Princess.

I’m so nervous I don’t know what to do with myself. Fortunately, my white dress is enormous and beautiful, and I feel like I can practically hide inside of it.

For the hundredth time today I wonder how any of this happened. I never in my life imagined that I’d meet a man like Bran, let alone marry a Prince and become a real Princess. I look at myself in the floor-length mirror and I almost don’t recognize the woman looking back at me.

She’s beautiful. She has her hair pulled back in a complicated braided pattern, wrapped up behind her head, with a silver crown at the very top. Lace falls down behind her and her beautiful dress billows out around her hips. It’s me in that mirror, and I can barely accept that. I look like a Princess, a real, actual Princess.

I just wanted to move up in the world. I wanted to get a better job and better myself at the start of all this. I never pictured any of this. I never thought an entire country would be saying my name in joyous whispers.

For the last four hours, a literal team of women have been dressing me, grooming me, and preparing me for the ceremony. I’ve been locked up in this room in the back of the castle with them, getting pampered and dressed, and now I’m supposed to feel ready, but I don’t.

I’m terrified. Not because I’m afraid to marry Bran, which of course I’m not. I want to marry him more than anything else in this world. I’m mostly afraid of the crowd that will be there. The press coverage is absolutely insane and people have been writing about this wedding for the last few months.

There’s a knock at the door that pulls me from my nerves. I’ve been alone for the last few minutes and suddenly I’m grateful for someone to talk to. “Come in,” I call out.

The door opens and my future mother-in-law steps inside. Queen Ana smiles at me and shuts the door behind her. “You look lovely,” she says.

“Thanks,” I respond, laughing. “I can hardly believe it.”

“Believe what?”

“That I look like this.”

She smiles and walks over to me. She gives me a little hug. “You’re a Princess, dear. You always have been, even if it wasn’t official before.”

I blink at her. “Really?”

“Of course, dear. All of this, it’s just trappings,” she says, waving her hand at the room. “But you have what a real Princess needs. And that’s heart.”

I smile at her. “Thanks.”

“No, thank you. After what you did for us…” She trails off for a moment before smiling at me. “Well, I feel like this country finally has hope again.”

It’s been over a year since I recorded Blaz Perko doing drugs and coming onto me. Since then, the recordings have been released to the public, and Perko’s entire political career was destroyed. He was removed from office, along with some of his closest associates, and his anti-royalty party fell into disrepair as the members all fought amongst themselves. Ever since then, the news has been dominated by stories about Bran and I, and people have forgotten all about how much they used to dislike the monarchy.

Now, the polls show that everyone is embracing Bran’s family, and they say it’s all because of me. Not just because of what I did to get that recording, but also because the people simply love me. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because I can speak Bellestanian pretty well now, but people seem to really have taken to me.

“You did all the work,” I say. “I was just in the right place at the right time.”

“Of course, dear,” she says, laughing a little bit. “Now, enough about all that. Are you ready?”

I take a deep breath. “Yes, I think so.”

“Good.” She takes my arm and steps toward the door. “Because we’re getting started.”

We step out into the hallway, and what happens next is pretty much a blur. I’m so nervous that I can barely breathe, but of course I don’t need to be.

Queen Ana escorts me through the back halls until we reach a side entrance, facing the main room of the castle. I can see hundreds of people inside, and every fireplace is lit. A beautiful thick red rug leads up toward the center of the room, where I can just barely see Bran standing with Aleks and a priest in a complicated-looking white robe.

Queen Ana hands me off to my father, who proceeds to walk me down the aisle. A full band plays music, the traditional Bellestanian wedding march, as we walk toward the raised dais in the center of the room. It’s surrounded on all sides by important people, ministers and businessmen and actors, basically anyone who’s anyone in the entire country. There are cameras broadcasting the ceremony to the world, but I force myself to ignore all of that.

For me, there’s only Bran. And the look on his face when I step into the room tells me everything. He lights up, beaming with joy, as I step toward him. I can see it in his eyes, the reason I’m marrying him: intense and undying devotion.

I don’t care about all of this fancy stuff. I don’t need the beautiful dress or the incredible wedding. I don’t even need to be a Princess, although that’s pretty nice.

All I need is Bran. He’s everything to me now, the reason I’m picking up my life and moving to Bellestan, the light of everything. I’ll be working for him and his company still in the Bellestan office, which means my whole life will be perfectly entwined with his, which is exactly how I want it.

I make it to the dais. My father helps me up the steps, kisses my cheeks, and then retreats to a front seat. My mom is crying already, of course, which is no surprise. I look away from her and directly into Bran’s eyes, and I don’t look away for the rest of the night.

The room melts away. As the priest begins the ceremony, speaking in Latin and Bellestanian, I don’t listen to a word he says. There’s only Bran for me, and that’s all I need.

We exchange the traditional wedding vows in Bellestanian. When we finish, Bran puts a ring on my finger, and I do the same for him. Finally, we kiss, and turn to the crowd.

We hold hands, drop to our knees, and the Priest slowly lowers an ancient sword onto our shoulder, binding us as one before the country and God. We bow our heads and say a prayer, and then we stand and kiss again.

The room explodes as Bran and I are escorted off the dais and through the halls. We end up in a room together with a bunch of bustling people, getting things ready for the next part of the day, which is basically one large party mixed with media relations

“Everyone,” Bran says loudly to the room. “Please, everyone, get out.”

The people all pause before slowly filtering out of the room. Bran stares at me and once we’re alone, he takes me in his arms and kisses me deeply.

We break off after a moment, and I feel breathless. “That’s what I’ve been wanting,” he says softly. “This ceremony, it doesn’t feel like us.”

“You’re right,” I say. “I don’t need any of this. I just want to be with you.”

“That’s what I want, too.” He smirks at me. “How does it feel to be Princess Mila Krizman?”

“Strange,” I admit. “But incredible. I’m really a Princess now, aren’t I?”

“You are,” he confirms. “And once this circus is over, we can get down to business.”

I cock my head. “What’s that?”

“Getting you pregnant.”

I laugh and he kisses me again, this time slow and deep. We spend the next few minutes alone with each other, since we won’t get another chance to be alone until we’re back down in the cave tonight, alone in our room together.

For me, this is the real wedding. Just the two of us, standing in this room, kissing and enjoying being close. That’s what I really want and what I really look forward to. And now, I can look forward to that for the rest of my life.

“I love you, Princess,” he says.

“I love you too.”

He squeezes my hand, takes a deep breath, and lets it out.

“So what do you say we get on with this, huh?”

I smile and nod. “Yeah. Let’s not keep the people waiting.”

He grins at me and I feel my heart lift. We step forward together, open the doors, and we head out into our new life, our new life together in the spotlight as Prince and Princess, but being together with him anywhere is better than anything else I could imagine.